We have all experienced anxiety at some point in life, some more than others. It can be a debilitating condition that creates stress and affects us in many ways; in our ability to relate, to work effectively and to be in the world in a confident and calm way. I know the times in the past when I have experienced anxiety I have felt overwhelmed and powerless, unable to feel clear or be at ease with myself.
I recall experiencing panic attacks and anxiety so badly at times that I felt I would be unable to leave home for fear of not being able to handle the situations or people that I would run into. I felt totally immobilised and would start to get hot sweats, feeling like I couldn’t function properly if I saw anyone I knew, and if I did speak with them my face would go bright red making me feel even more anxious, compounding the stress I was already feeling.
Up until this point I had only experienced mild panic attacks that were short-lived but my desire to do something thrilling for my birthday ended up triggering panic attacks and anxiety that would go on for months. I had decided to do a tandem skydive for my birthday. When it came time to jump from 14,000 feet I was incredibly scared but was encouraged to jump with my skydiver, and suddenly this didn’t feel like fun at all. I finally made it to the ground and breathed a sigh of relief knowing that I now had my feet firmly planted and was still alive.
The experience was one I would never do again, as I didn’t enjoy it one bit and nearly fainted whilst in free-fall. It probably only lasted a minute or two but felt like much longer because of the distress and discomfort I was feeling in my body.
What happened in my life for the next few months was possibly harder for me to deal with than the skydive itself. I suddenly developed frequent panic attacks and the thought of leaving the house and doing my grocery shopping etc. seemed all too hard. There was a sense of hopelessness and I would fear being embarrassed whilst I was out in public. I am naturally a warm, friendly and open person so this was quite noticeably different from my usual behaviour and initially I felt totally incapable of dealing with it as I had lost any confidence in myself and was always fearing the worst.
I became a hermit for a short while, only venturing out when I needed to, as I felt ill-equipped to deal with what may happen unexpectedly to me. I created a wall of protection for myself so that I didn’t feel hurt in any way, but this wall ended up feeling more exhausting and didn’t help me to face what was truly going on. I still needed to go to work, which was probably a good thing as it got me out of the house and I noticed when I was committed to my work the anxiety didn’t seem to exist as much because my focus was on others rather than on myself. While getting ready for work I would convince myself that I would be fine, that there was a part of me that could trust myself and know I would be ok as I had lived without this anxiety ruling me for many years, therefore this anxiety wasn’t who I was and it didn’t need to control me and my life.
What supported me greatly was to take the time to check in with my body and to notice if there were any pictures or ideals about how my day should play out – as this was adding to the anxious thoughts. By focussing on my breath I was able to stay more connected to my body and to stop any stories that started circulating around in my head, for if I disconnected from my body the anxious thoughts were able to flood in.
Over time I could feel how staying with my breath supported me to feel a steadiness in my body; I was now beginning to trust myself more and felt a growing confidence within, which gave me a better understanding and acceptance of myself rather than being hard and beating myself up if I felt anxious in front of others. No matter what happened I would have my back and not give up and if I did not apply this then the anxiety would further increase.
Slowly I was beginning to unravel this anxiety that I felt used to own me and now I was taking back control of my life; I had learnt to be more loving with myself and to talk to myself in a more tender and respectful way, as I would to a young child. This has been valuable in building a relationship with myself and my body.
From this experience I can understand how anxiety and panic attacks can take a hold when we begin to perceive that this is who we think we are. I have come to a better understanding of how key it is to stay connected with our body so we are aware of any anxious feelings, not letting them take us away from this connection and not allowing the mind to take over with any crazy thoughts.
I now experience only mild anxiety at times, and it is with learning to stay more present with myself that I have built this inner confidence that has allowed me to feel I can handle these anxious thoughts and not let them take me over anymore. Learning to become more consistent and steady in my life has given me a solid foundation that has supported me throughout very challenging and difficult times. This has been a gradual process, assisted by learning about some very simple and powerful techniques through attending Universal Medicine presentations where I was introduced to the powerful Gentle Breath Meditation™, a practical and simple meditation that has supported me to feel more steady and present in my body – especially during the times when I feel anxious or stressed in any way.
By Anna Douglass, International Flight Attendant, Mother, dedicated student of the Ageless Wisdom, Australia
Related Reading:
Anxious Much?
Psychotherapist Jean Gamble speaks about Anxiety
Anxiety and expression . . . are they related?
The Truth about Serge Benhayon 
When our mind takes over it can convince us of anything because it shuts the body down from feeling. I had this experience when I was mentally unwell, my thoughts dominated everything and it was my thoughts that led me down a Rabbit hole, as they became all consuming, then when I started taking drugs for the depression it was then easy to become dependant on them as they stopped the white noise of the mind, so that for a while I just existed to take drugs.
A beautiful healing from letting anxiety run our life to staying connected, steady, and confident, ‘I now experience only mild anxiety at times, and it is with learning to stay more present with myself that I have built this inner confidence that has allowed me to feel I can handle these anxious thoughts and not let them take me over anymore.’
What a great confirmation of the value of being deeply connected with yourself Shirley-Ann.
Absolutely, the importance of our connection with our body is huge, ‘By focussing on my breath I was able to stay more connected to my body and to stop any stories that started circulating around in my head, for if I disconnected from my body the anxious thoughts were able to flood in.’
Being transparent 🖱and exposing 👀 what has temporally capped our evolution is key 🔑 part of the puzzle 🧩 for us to unlock 🔐 through nomination our waywardness and thus transparency opens the door 🚪 to our ability to reconnect through alignment to our Souls 💛.
“No matter what happened I would have my back and not give up and if I did not apply this then the anxiety would further increase.‘ Thanks Anna, your dedication to yourself was a foundation allowing you to self-care with your breath and connection to yourself to stay steady. I also noted you shared about talking to yourself in a loving and respectful way, like you would a child. Truly we can be a resource to ourselves in our own healing if we choose to be more gentle, loving and attentive to our own needs.
Absoulutely Melinda, getting rid of those thought 💭 gremlins 🗯 allows us to deepen our relationship with the Love 💓 we all innately are.
Many may feel afraid to share how they really feel daily, anxious, overwhelmed or sad at times. These kind of feelings are seen as a failure or an embarrashment and it’s easy to tend to cover them up behind a façade. In my experience, I just can say how freeing it is everytime I express how I’m really feeling with someone I trust and supports me to don’t judge and accept that I, and we all are, a very sensitive and precious woman that deserves being loved and held deeply so.
Inmma Lorente when we can let down our guard and be honest with people about how we are truly feeling miracles can and do happen. For example, for some time I had a colleague who was jealous and had a big chip on their shoulders about me. I couldn’t help not feeling the energy being directed towards me. However, I just stayed steady and just kept talking to them in a way that showed them I was harmless, no need to fight me. I always told them how I was feeling, such as feeling the stress of not making my weekly/ monthly targets, which I also knew she was feeling but wasn’t able to fully express the stress she was in. I would laugh at my stress and explain that as long as I had done everything I could to obtain my sales figures apart from holding a gun to the clients head and telling them to buy something or I’ll shoot them, there wasn’t anything I could do. Times are really tough at the moment and all companies are struggling and they are in many cases just struggling to get through the month/ year and many companies have gone out of business altogether. Slowly I have witnessed a change in my colleague they are able to laugh and not take themselves and life so seriously, as being in stress and nervous energy really doesn’t support our bodies because if we are stressed during the day and we take that stressful energy to bed with us that stops us from sleeping in a way that can support our bodies to deeply settle and wake up the next morning feeling fresh. How many of us stagger out of bed and need that cup/s of coffee to get us going in the day? I would say millions of us.
Sharings like these are gold. Thank you Anna for sharing your experience on anxiety, it feels very relatable to me and very inspiring to read. Some years ago feeling really overwhelmed to cope with what I felt was my normal in my day to day until I made the choice to ask for help. At that moment my practitioner was redeveloping her career by being introduced the Ageless Wisdom teachings. I started to attend Serge Benhayon presentations and include the techniques like the Gentle Breath Meditation and having sessions of Sacred Esoteric Healing modalities. To me, this choice of surrendering to the fact that I needed support was very key, also opening up and trust with what my body was telling me.
Today anxiety stopped being normal in my day to day. I’m finding myself more confident and joyful than ever before. Through my body I can feel and see and endless beauty within that I never considered. There is no place in this world where people is talking about how important it is loving ourselves, being gentle and so on…but observing how people is today, the high rates of anxiety and depression, I wonder if we missed something really important as human beings… and it is this sense of connection with ourselves.
Inma Lorente I can also attest to the Ageless Wisdom teaching delivered via Serge Benhayon. The science behind the teachings make so much sense to me, that I do believe we as a race of human-beings have missed out the importance of connecting back to ourselves. I know so many people, myself included who have reconnected and in the reconnection feel joy in their lives which is something they have not experienced since they were children.
Our breathe is every thing as we are always in control of how we breath thus as you have shared Anna, making an alignment to our Essence and thus the way we breathe changes so much about the way we move and thus a focus on breathing that keeps on deepening as we evolve, enriches our whole life.
What stood out for me is the line that says when you disconnected from your body the anxious thoughts were able to flood in. This to me is the key to understanding ourselves that we are not what we think and that we don’t actually think at all. As you correctly say when we are in the disconnection to our bodies the most weird thoughts can flood into the gap between the connection and the disconnection as there are no gaps in space the void has to be filled by something. Not many of us are aware of this science I guess you could call it. In the future it will become common knowledge as we retrace our steps back to our soul.
Connecting to and remaining present with the body helps solve most things – I’ve yet to find something that isn’t healed or improved by connecting to the body.
Great to read this again Anna as I am working on staying more present with myself and my breath, and examining where and why anxiety crops up. You give so many great tips and what I find encouraging about that is what you have applied has worked for you. I hadn’t been examining pictures about life, my day, etc, and how they may be impacting my anxiety but I can now see the link, and I loved the line of how you had your own back. Definitely one for me to study a few times, very supportive, thank you.
For me anxiousness begins in my fingers. The moment I feel anxious, my fingers let me know that I have lost connection to myself. I am ever so appreciative of my body and especially my active fingers in showing me directly that anxiety is building within me. I have a choice then to stop and re-connect to my greatness within.
Checking in with our body and asking questions with regards to how we are feeling and why we are feeling a certain way is an awesome thing to do .. much better than pretending the feeling isn’t there and ignoring but. My learning is to also know I am not that feeling as sometimes in the past anxiety has consumed me and I have thought that that is all I am!! Crazy when we are so much grander ✨
“I had learnt to be more loving with myself and to talk to myself in a more tender and respectful way, as I would to a young child.” I feel the anxiety fading away with this statement.
Me too and living without pictures of what we think it should be like. When our body communicates, it communicates in the moment, if we listen to it, we can unravel the so called mysteries of the past and fear of the future.
When we live to pictures, it is debilitating because we have expectations about how things should be, look, sound, smell – the whole range of senses. Yet if any part of our picture changes then we have a sense of unease because we haven’t ‘prepared ourself’ for it. Staying with the body and focusing on the simplicity of the body’s messages in every moment builds a foundation of trust that we are perfectly supported in any moment.
‘I was incredibly scared but was encouraged to jump’ this just goes to show the importance of listening to our body and also why our body speaks so loudly to us at times … so we listen! I know this from experience as in the past used to override the messages quite a lot 😶 Awesome to say I am doing this far less now.
This is really interesting what you have shared here ‘I can understand how anxiety and panic attacks can take a hold when we begin to perceive that this is who we think we are.’ as it got me to reflect on a young person I am working with who is incredibly anxious.
One of the best forms of advice I have ever received regarding anxiety is to just stop and breathe!
Andrew I’ll add breathe into a paper bag as this helps the body to regulate the oxygen and carbon dioxide. I used to have very bad panic attacks at the most unlikely times, and I was advised by my psychiatrist at the time to carry a paper bag with me wherever I went, and this did indeed support me to come back to myself. If the panic attacks were very bad, then I took medication to calm me down. Thankfully since finding Universal Medicine those days are long gone.
I have lived with a low level of anxiety for most of my life, although not fully aware of it until many years ago .. to me it just seemed normal to live with it!!! I can only remember having one proper panic attack though and it really scared me I didn’t now what was happening and it felt like my whole body was doing something I had no control over and could not stop. It is very true that the more we build inner confidence, our relationship with our body and being present the more the anxiety lessens.
Staying with our breath and bodies is super supportive, ‘I could feel how staying with my breath supported me to feel a steadiness in my body; I was now beginning to trust myself more and felt a growing confidence within, which gave me a better understanding and acceptance of myself ‘.
Anxiety is something that we can be so plagued by, and in the intensity of it not believe that this could ever be changed. What if being more connected to the body really was the answer? Something the medical profession hasn’t considered but should really research.
Connection with our body is key. Not only in healing anxiety but for everything.
The turnaround from such intense panic attacks and anxiety by such simple means of the Gentle Breath Meditation and staying connected to your body and breath really needs to be taken note of, especially as anxiety is so prevalent now. Being aware of our connection to our body and if our breath has changed can indicate where we are in terms of feeling settled and calm, or if our stress levels are rising. More than this it can become our way of life when we realise how natural and supportive it is to remain in connection to ourselves and our body, and monitor how we feel by staying aware of ourselves.
We can only feel anxiousness in the body if we allow it to enter. It is not who we are and therefore we do not have to live with it. By making a simple choice to connect to the body we free our selves immediately from the hold anxiousness can have running through the body.
Yes understanding that we choose to go into anxiety and it is not an inevitable thing or something we have no say in is vitally important.
I really can’t imagine anyone truly enjoying jumping out of a plane, physically our body has to deal with the consequences, skydiveing is one of those things they will look back in the future and think we were completely mad!
I agree with you Sam, I really don’t think that we were meant to jump out of an aeroplane at a great height. Just as I don’t think the body appreciates it when we Bungi-Jump. Why do we treat our bodies with such a lack of respect?
I have started to realise that anxiety happens when we leave our bodies and head off into the past or the future. The body tells us, in no uncertain terms, it has been left. We try to berate it for these messages but in fact, it is the most incredible communicator and letting us know that we must stay present if we are to deal with what is ahead or behind us. If we stay present we will develop the skills to address what needs to be dealt with and build a foundation that means anxiety is not a part of our lives any more.
I feel like a lot of the time we just take on too much stuff. When we connect to our body we tend to honour ourselves more and our choices are more self loving and we are far less likely to overdo things.
Being more loving and honouring of our bodies is always a wise choice, ‘I had learnt to be more loving with myself and to talk to myself in a more tender and respectful way, as I would to a young child.’
‘Our body is the marker of Truth’. When we experience anxiety our fight/flight reflex has been triggered and therefore our body is highlighting for us something that we need to pay attention to. If we do not investigate the signal it gets louder which can lead to what we experience as a panic attack. Learning to listen to our body as you describe Anna we are responding to what it is communicating and in doing so we develop a harmonious relationship of mutual respect and care between our body and our self – we become at one with our self.
Even just thinking about anxiety can make me anxious because I go from the settlement I feel in my body to thoughts and chatter in my head. Being with my breath and present in my body has meant that anxiety no longer has a hold on me, it’s something I can just observe along with my breath.
Building a relationship with our bodies, a connection with our breath and body, all support us to stay surrendered, ‘I have come to a better understanding of how key it is to stay connected with our body so we are aware of any anxious feelings, not letting them take us away from this connection and not allowing the mind to take over with any crazy thoughts.’
LJ Serge Benhayon and the presentations of Universal Medicine has given the world many modalities that support everyone to stay in connection to their bodies, rather than be in the checked out state which means that anything can happen to our bodies because we are not in control of them.
It is amazing how much our body shows and reflects the way we have been living, just as you say you have stayed more connected with yourself and so not felt the anxiousness which shows it is not something normal to have rather something that arises out of our disconnection.
Our bodies are amazing at reminding us of the love we are and that we are not from here. Whilst we are physical we need to take care of them but they constantly remind us we are far more than purely physical. I find my body tells me this all the time and gives me signs, the question for me is how much do i choose to listen to it!
Yes, that point that we are not from here, that we are not purely physical, is so apparent in the dying process, it is less well remembered in the way we live our day-to-day lives. However, as you share, if we take care of the physical in the finer details we will find we are more and more aware of these details.
This insight into the root and development of anxiety is absolute gold. It certainly supports me to see beyond anxious moments and to work on living connected to my body more of the time.
Our way out of strife and difficulty is in deeply feeling our body and the movements that we make, not in racking up achievements that are not true.
Our minds if we allow them free reign can take us off in all sorts of directions that then can become our reality of life. I have discovered for myself that actually our mind is our worst enemy and the thoughts that we have are not ours they are fed to us by a consciousness that wants to keep us all locked down and controlled. At some level we do know this as we have written hundreds if not more, books on the subject, films, TV series that show humanity locked down and controlled by an outer force but have yet to admit that it is actually our everyday reality.
To be aware of our body and respond to it keeps us on the front foot so that we are not waiting for a reaction or a correction.
The pictures and ideals that we have beforehand cause anxiety as we try to control what can happen and if it doesn’t plays out in the way we want there is a kind of panic, coming back to the body is absolutely a key in this, the love we build in our body makes it possible to make this choice to connect to the body instead of our deceitful mind.
Great description, if we are not present anything can flood in and anxiety is an indicator of this lack of presence. We are sensitive beings, we feel deeply, to deny this brings a tension that many of us attempt to dull and ignore in any way possible.
Being connected to our body is like being there and looking after ourselves, as you would a toddler, instead of abandoning ourselves for anything to happen.
To me one of the greatest ills we have allowed is the disconnection to our innate sensitivity as you say Samantha Davidson when we deny our sensitivity it brings a great tension into our bodies that we then try to ignore, suppress, or override.
Being present is undoubtedly amazing for our wellbeing. Thinking you are is not it either, the being is about body and the mind is part of that, not the master. I agree my anxiety level is basically none existent through making this choice.
Connecting to the body is invaluable when it comes to settling ourselves, whether that be when trying to fall asleep, going to work, doing the shopping or anything at all for that matter. When we are absent and disconnected, the mind is prone to being taken over by anything at all, by the craziest of thoughts and the most self-sabotaging comments.
“Connecting to the body is invaluable when it comes to settling ourselves..”, this is so true Gabriele, I have experienced this many times when I have a wind-down gentle exercise session in the evening or an Esoteric Yoga class, no matter what is there to be shared from my body it feels amazing to be in it, yet at other times when I’m disturbed by something in life it feels like the place I want to get away from. It’s a great reminder to me that in those times to come back to body connection as quickly as possible.
Anxiety can be absolutely crippling so it makes absolute sense that the way to deal with it is to connect with our body because that way we have an anchor that can support us.
How true Elizabeth, our anchor and support is going within with connection.
When we listen and respond to the body – the potential is endless. It is like a novel that is unfolded for us to take in.
It is so true that the expectations that we hold about how we should be or how our lives should be can create a whole of uncertainty and anxiety.
I can magnify my anxiety by what I think about or I can stop it if I come back to feeling my body. I can see the addictiveness in how I can use it at times to not deal with things I need to do.
I know that so well Aimee and can totally get caught up and carried away in my mind about things getting all anxious and racy when there is no real reason to.
SO true, anxiety can be addictive because of all the hormones that come in to help us deal with what we do not feel equipped to manage. Strangely, these hormones can be addictive because they tell us that we have the solution to the anxiety. Rebuilding the connection with the body outside of anxiety takes some practice but starts to make the adrenaline feel less attractive.
The learning that everything comes from our connection to our body and the beauty and importance to this brings a healing and understanding to our selves and the way anxiety plays us away from this connection and how feeling our body is our key and guide that supports us to stay steady and settled and how we can come back to this connection and love our essence and who we are.
“What supported me greatly was to take the time to check in with my body and to notice if there were any pictures or ideals about how my day should play out ” Making the choice to stay with our body reduces the chance the mind has to play with us, making anxious thoughts and self-doubt less prevalent.
I am saying a big yes to the question posed in the title of this article. Anxiousness can only get a grip of me if I disconnect from my body and is stopped immediately when I bring my awareness back to my body.
When we are so used to living life through our nervous system, taking flight or fight in every situation that arises, it can seem an unsurmountable challenge to adjust to a more heart centred approach and allow ourselves to be surrendered when we are faced with seeming obstacles. However, I am finding this is an illusion in that it is not that it is impossible to make the switch, it just seems difficult at first because we are up against thousands of years of ingrained behaviours across many lives. In which life and in which moment we choose to make the necessary adjustments will depend on when we each feel ready to let go of what we have so desperately been clinging onto.
I so agree – and to persist – choosing to stay with each moment and returning to our body to the best of our ability. No perfection required – just a consistent commitment.
Consistency is the answer and before too long, conscious presence becomes what is normal and any deviation is easily noticed as it is palpably felt as a dis-ease.
True settlement comes from knowing everything we need to face what lies before us, lives within us. Connection to the body is the key.
Something I need to remind myself of when there are challenging times in my life but I do know this to be true.
Thanks Liane, you summed that up beautifully.
A succinct and beautiful reminder of how powerful we are, ‘True settlement comes from knowing everything we need to face what lies before us, lives within us. Connection to the body is the key.’
When we are “with ourselves”, that is connected to our bodies we have everything that we need to deal with any situation, which means that no anxiety can be present.
I have found that being aware of my movements, body and how I am breathing has absolutely altered how I feel and I used to live with alot of anxiety, now I do not.
Have we ever stopped to wonder where thoughts come from? Are they really ours or do they come from somewhere else and we are just the receivers of them. I say this because sometimes when I decide to do something that goes against the grain of society I get the negative thoughts that I have done something wrong even though on a deeper level I know I haven’t. So where are these thoughts coming from? Is it possible that we receive negative and positive thoughts and if we were to block out the negative thoughts would this increase the positive thoughts?
A question we should all be asking Mary…… ‘Have we ever stopped to wonder where our thoughts come from? Are they really ours or do they come from somewhere else and we are just the receivers of them’ .
I can so relate as now-a-days some choices that feel completely natural to make, often appears to others that I am going against ‘the norm’. Which brings up another question have we let go of what feels ‘natural’ to us and to our body and replaced it with what ‘the norm’ is. In other words doing what everyone else is doing as to not rock the boat, as to not stand out.
Anxiousness is a horrible feeling that really is an unnecessary evil in our lives, so its great to know it is easy to combat through the gentle breath meditation and staying more connected to ourselves.
Great blog Anna, with time, I overcame being anxious by supporting myself more on a daily basis by going early to bed more consistently, watching what food I was eating (avoiding sugary food). I never tried sky diving as I would be too scared of the drop. The closest experience I had was indoor skydiving which gave me a sensation of flying without the drop, but even that, I won’t do it again.
Imagine a car who’s engine was seperate to its chassis – wouldn’t it make for an uncomfortable nerve wracking ride? It makes so much sense that internal alerts go off for us when we live disconnected from our body and heart.
I had a pretty big breakthrough with why at certain times I feel anxious. I realised whenever I go into drive and think I have to do something and think about getting some recognition for it, anxiety comes up instantly and I loose my connection with my body. Our bodies tell us so clearly what’s going on.
Lately I became aware of this too Aimee, it is always a picture my mind plays out to put pressure on myself by thinking I have to fullfill an idea of how I should be in order to fit in, or get recognition.
It’s like an alarm signal that you’ve separated from something inside yourself that is much more beautiful – love.
I have come to a better understanding of how key it is to stay connected with our body so we are aware of any anxious feelings, not letting them take us away from this connection and not allowing the mind to take over with any crazy thoughts’. Nurturing and deeply honouring our bodies is how we stay in tune with our bodies and all they are communicating.
I agree being aware of them and not ignoring them is so important, they are a message just as everything else is and it is wise to listen.
When teaching, children asking them to bring focus on their feet as they line up and come into class is an immediate way of settling them. Bringing awareness to the body in a very simple way is super supportive in countering anxiety, raciness and general unsettlement.
What a great learning for them in their day, when so much is asking them to stay in their head.
There can be in the moment of asking, some tutting or rolling of eyebrows from a few kids, especially if they are emotional coming off the playground or over excited; but when asking them how they felt about doing this, everyone including the ‘eyebrow raisers’ and ‘tutters’ all exclaimed their love of this exercise and in their words… “it makes us feel calm and ready to learn”
This has just given me a great idea for a presentation I will be doing at my college when it comes to anxiety and food. Feeling our body before moving toward the fridge or any activity we are going to do, gives us a stop moment to connect with what our body actually needs.
Yes, I can vouch for this too. The more I deepen into stillness and am present in my body the less space there is for anxiety which doesn’t belong.
Anxiety was so normal to me that my body had no idea how it felt to be free from anxiousness. Now, the more I am in my body and the more understanding I bring myself the more anxiety shows itself as something foreign to me rather than familiar.
This is a very powerful blog as it offers great understanding to how anxiety can run our lives and the practicality of how we can apply it to our living day. Being an anxiety sufferer in the past I can attest to the fact the connection is the antidote to anxiety. I have discovered that when I am not connection to my body and being, I lose sense of what is true as I no longer and being guided by my truth and inner-knowing, and instead am run by my disconnected mind and its self-serving thoughts that always disregard the body. Whenever we are in separation to who we are there is tension and to avoid feeling tension we can go into anxiety to distract us from addressing the tension and the truth it offers us. Come back to connection and there is settlement, awareness, truth and all make sense once again.
The gentler I am with myself the more misfitting my reactions to life (anxiety in this example) are. And the more I realise the stress they build in my body that has got to have an impact down the line at some point.
Whenever we feel anxious or tense, just stopping and bringing attention to our breath, breathing gently in and out, can bring us back in our bodies, thus the anxiousness subsides and we can feel more present.
Yes bringing in a small stop or a pause throughout our day can prevent anxiousness from building up.
Thank you Anna… Someone being open and honest about anxiety is so innately healing for so many people. So many people are feeling anxiousness and yet there is this feeling that we cannot talk about this… The stigma of anything that smacks of mental disturbance carries on.
‘When I was committed to my work the anxiety didn’t seem to exist as much because my focus was on others rather than on myself’. This is true, when we get self out of the way, we feel more purposeful, so there is no space for anxiousness when feeling purpose.
From my whole-body I have come to understand and know not only myself but also life and those people around me in it; that our body is our wisest counsel.
We wouldn’t leave home with the front door wide open and expect to return home to find everything intact. Yet we leave our body and then get surprised when things get in that just aren’t right.
This is a very tangible example you give here how we treat our bodies. We learn how to protect ourselves in life towards others and outer influences but we do not learn how to take care and really care for our dose.
How we treat our body makes us want to stay with it or not. But learning to behold our body no matter what choices we have made or however we feel about it, is the start of caring for ourselves.